So things didn’t go as planned in Columbus, huh? After a dismal performance the boys in Victory Green will once again be back at the AAC. By dismal I mean bad. Ugly. Not great. You fill in the words.
The offense was once again non-existent. According to Saad Yousuf, after Monday night’s loss the Dallas Stars are tied with the winless Chicago Blackhawks in scoring the fewest amount of five-on-five goals this season. Both teams are at five. It doesn’t take a math wiz to figure out that’s less than one goal per game.
On Sunday Blake Comeau and Jason Robertson both skated with the team. With Robertson’s return Dallas could potentially get some much needed help on the offensive end of the ice. We’re not quite sure when that much needed help will arrive but we can anticipate, an’t we?
Until then we have to watch Dallas try and figure this out. The good thing is they’re still .500. With five of their first six games on the road, that’s not too terribly bad. I think the issue most Stars fans have is the way they’ve been having to win.
It should come as no surprise they want to win with defense. The surprise has come with the fact that the defense is having to carry them and I’m not sure its quite that good. The Stars are currently 27th in the league at two goals per game. Reverse that, though, and Dallas is fourth in the league in goals against (2.17). Perhaps a couple of games on home ice can help fix the offensive woes.
Dallas Potential Lines
Jason Robertson (21) — Roope Hintz (24) — Joe Pavelski (16)
Denis Gurianov (34) — Jamie Benn (14) — Alexander Radulov (47)
Joel Kiviranta (25) — Tyler Seguin (91) — Luke Glendening (11)
Michael Raffl (18) — Radek Faksa (12) — Blake Comeau (15)
Ryan Suter (20) — John Klingberg (3)
Esa Lindell (23) — Miro Heiskanen (4)
Andrej Sekera (5) — Jani Hakanpaa (2)
Anton Khudobin (35)
Braden Holtby (70)
The Vegas Golden Knights
If there’s a team that’s more of a disappointment this early in the season (outside of the Toronto Maple Leafs), I’d like to know who it is. The Knights have aspirations of a Stanley Cup this season. Everyone here at Defending Big D picked them to finish first in the Pacific division. But, coming into tonight’s game they sit with just two wins (thanks to a 3-1 victory against the Colorado Avalanche last night).
Like the Stars, Vegas has had their issues putting the puck in the back of the net as well. Like the Stars, they are averaging right at two goals per game. Unlike Dallas, though, Vegas is giving up over 3 goals per game. This ranks them 29th and 28th respectively.
Another advantage Dallas should have tonight is the fact that Vegas played last night. This means Dallas should have fresher legs. We’ll see if they can take advantage of it, however.
Vegas Potential Lines
Jonathan Marchessault (81) – William Karlsson (71) – Reilly Smith (19)
William Carrier (28) – Chandler Stephenson (20) – Peyton Krebs (18)
Evgeni Dadonov (63) – Nicolas Roy (10) – Keegan Kolesar (55)
Brett Howden (21) – Jake Leschyshyn (15) – Mattias Janmark (26)
Nicolas Hague (14) – Alex Pietrangelo (7)
Shea Theodore (27 – Dylan Coghlan (52)
Brayden McNabb (3) – Daniil Miromanov (42)
Laurent Brossoit (39)
Robin Lehner (90)